Have unions earned the publics' wrath?

Sunday

Feb 27, 2011 at 3:15 AMFeb 27, 2011 at 9:11 AM

There is an anti-union tide sweeping across the nation. While much of the attention has been focused on Wisconsin in recent days, anti-union sentiment has surfaced in Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey, California and here in New Hampshire, with right-to-work legislation.

Regardless of what leaders like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker preach, this rage being felt by taxpayers and legislators is not just about the money. It is about payback and making sure the abuses heaped on the taxpaying public by unions cease.

This may seem heartless, and probably is. But so too is having to call employees into the human resources offices of private businesses and tell them there just isn't the money to keep them on the payroll any longer.

There was a time when unions were held in high esteem. They were the drivers for wage-and-hours laws, child labor restrictions, abolishing sweatshops and raising concerns that eventually led to federal laws governing safety in the workplace.

There was also a time when America could afford the excesses that unions demanded, and often won with little fuss.

The United States automobile industry wasn't driven toward bankruptcy solely by unions. Corporate executives who thought their products were worth any price accepted and even encouraged union demands for higher wages and benefits. But then Americans started to wake up, at least when it came to private-sector unions.

Whether it was all labor's fault or not, industry after industry started to falter and fold. Meanwhile the realization was developing that wages and government regulations had unreasonably driven up the cost of American-made goods to a point that opened the domestic market to the likes of inexpensive cars from the likes of Honda and Datsun (now Nissan).

Foreign manufacturers could do it cheaper and eventually better without unions and excessive government interference. Eventually, however, companies like Toyota figured out how to deal with government regulations and brought their manufacturing operations to U.S. soil. But knowing their success still hinged in large part on price, they kept unions at bay.

This has been a hard lesson finally learned by so many businesses that today, union membership in the private sector is in the single digits — 6.9 percent based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The only place unions still have an effective oar in the water is in the public sector. It is this 32.6 percent which is now under attack.

Beyond the reasons cited above, this attack has come about because the public is tired of union overreach. In New Hampshire during the last budget cycle, Gov. John Lynch went to the state employees' union seeking concessions so that few, if anyone, would have to be laid off. The SEIU effectively told him to go pound sand. Thankfully, layoffs were eventually trimmed from an initial 700 or so to less than 300. But even that number would not have been needed if the union had accepted financial reality.

It is this obstinate entitlement mentality that has lit the anti-union fire. But despite the flame, unions still pour gasoline. An example is found at the University of New Hampshire with the professor's union.

While non-union staff will be forced to give back benefits and in some cases effectively take pay cuts, the union has said no.

What entitles the union to that which no one else is entitled?

It soothes little that unions like the ones in Wisconsin are now ready to come to the table. The damage has been done.

What the taxpaying public is demanding in the form or right-to-work laws and union busting budget provisions is equality.

Is it unfortunate that taxpayers as a whole are no longer willing to credit unions with some of the good they have done over the years? Yes. But it is even more unfortunate that unions decided to rest on their laurels while overseeing their fiefdom.

That is the why of the rage seen in Wisconsin and to some extent New Hampshire. It is a quest for vengeance — and equality.

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